Alright guys I confirmed my thoughts on the oem vs stens blades. For what ever reason the stens with the slightly less lift and the extended cutting edge cuts better for me then the oem high lifts do. I know this is the exact opposite of gmlc findings but it is what it is. The oem blades don't seem to chop up the grass much at all. The stens blades chops them up big time and discharges them further and more evenly so they disappear into the turf. I have not used the stens since the middle of last summer. I have used the oem on the 460 and the G6's on the 160 that i keep here at home to cut my 2 1/4 acres. Well I ran across a new only sharpened once set of the stens blades that were sharpened then put away last year. Brought them home and put them on the 160 and cut my lawn. Night and day difference. The oem and the G6 would both leave some debris on the top of the grass. The stens made the clippings vanish. I cut my lawn in 45 minutes today I was flying so fast. I could not do that with the oem or G6 blades.

When I tried the Stens blades there was almost no discharge pressure. The clippings or should I say clumps were just falling out of the discharge. The deck packed solid. This was in wet conditions. When I cut dry it just clumped no deck packing. Threw blades in garbage. OEM cut awesome for me.Posted via Mobile Device

Must be a huge difference between the deck sizes. For example this morning the oem blades were razer sharp and the grass was damp with dew and the mower clumped like crazy. Maybe I need to check the pitch of my deck but I am not thrilled with the oem blades on either of my xfactor decks.Posted via Mobile Device

The new deck must be much much better because today I gave my mower its first challenge. a really thick lush green field that i was cutting grass from around 10 inches tall down to 3.5 and it cut AWESOME. I couldnt believe it. It cut right down flat as a carpet on the first pass and it didnt clog at all, almost no clumping either. you should have seen the deck discharging this stuff, this new deck can definitely process a huge amount of grass like a champ.I even took my exmark off the trailer to make a pass to compare and it was clumping and not discharging nearly as well,I was pumped.

do you mean the rubber chute? if so then yes, i hate them on any mower. i havent had any windrows at all, it throws all the clippings out straight and fans them out very well, much like my older exmark, i do have the newdeck though.Posted via Mobile Device

Must be a huge difference between the deck sizes. For example this morning the oem blades were razer sharp and the grass was damp with dew and the mower clumped like crazy. Maybe I need to check the pitch of my deck but I am not thrilled with the oem blades on either of my xfactor decks.Posted via Mobile Device

Its got to be the deck size and blade design. I have to really try to make my 52 clump. Like taking off 8" of soaking wet grass/clover/weeds I can get some clumps.

In my experiense the smaller the clippings(like exmark) the more clumping. The larger the clippings and faster the clippings get processed(like scag) less clumps.Posted via Mobile Device

Last week was our first full week mowing. I just want to comment that I forgot how much I love being on this mower! The comfort is unmatched and the hydros are silky smooth. When I try other mowers now the first thing I feel is the vibration from the engine and operation. All these years I didnt realize how much vibration actually gets transfered to the operator. I look foward to mowing with my 452 everyday!Posted via Mobile Device